An Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA), also known as active phased array radar is a type of phased array radar whose transmitter and receiver functions are composed of numerous small solid-state transmit/receive elements. AESA radars may be utilized in a variety of applications, including aviation and aircraft applications. Aviation and aircraft applications generally require wide azimuth coverage.
Wide azimuth coverage with an AESA has generally driven a tradeoff in off-boresight gain or required the use of additional panels whose pointing angles were spread across the desired azimuth space. This is especially true with classic aperture designs which have substantial losses when scanned away from normal to the radiating aperture. For example, to provide wide azimuth coverage, a radar system may include a forward-facing AESA panel and multiple side AESA panels (e.g., a left-facing panel, a right-facing panel and possibly even more additional panels) to help reducing off-boresight gain loss. However, each panel introduces additional cost and increases the physical space required, which may be difficult to accommodate due to the limited space available on an aircraft.
Therein lies the need to provide a radar system suitable for aircraft applications.